Parliament Question: Loans for higher education

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 505 ANSWERED ON- 04/02/2026 LOANS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 505 Smt. Ranjeet Ranjan: Smt. Phulo Devi Netam: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) the number of education loan applications received, sanctioned, rejected and withdrawn, bank-wise and State-wise, during the last three financial years; (b) whether Government has analysed the reasons for the significant gap between loan sanctions and actual disbursements under PM-Vidyalaxmi, if so, details thereof; (c) the number of complaints received regarding illegal collateral or third-party guarantee demands for loans below the collateral-free threshold, State-wise; (d) the number of higher-education institutions formally empanelled or linked with banks for education loan facilitation; and (e) whether institutions in Tier-Il and Tier-III cities show lower facilitation rates, if so, details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) to (e): Education is in the concurrent list and both the central government and State Governments work together for its improvement. The Government of India has launched the PM-Vidyalaxmi, a new central sector scheme in November 2024. The main objective of the scheme is to ensure that no student is denied the opportunity to pursue higher education due to financial constraints. Under the scheme, collateral-free and guarantor-free education loan is provided to all the students who get merit-based admission in top Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs) and who desire to avail the education loan and there is no upper limit for this. Further, for students with annual family income up to ₹8 lakh, the scheme provides 3% interest subvention on loans up to ₹ 10 lakhs. Up to one lakh fresh students not getting any other scholarship or interest subvention on education loan will get this interest subvention. A dedicated online platform, the PM Vidyalaxmi portal https://pmvidyalaxmi.co.in has been developed on which students can apply for the education loan as well as interest subvention,through a simplified application process to be used by all banks. This portal has started operating from 25th February 2025. During 25th February 2025 and 28th January 2026, more than 57,000 PM -Vidyalaxmi education loans have been sanctioned. The amount sanctioned is ₹7395 crores. The State-wise and Bank-wise number of education loan applications received, sanctioned, rejected and withdrawn/closed/pending with students for want of relevant information is available at https://www.education.gov.in/en/parl_ques . As the portal made live on 25th February 2025, 25,622 grievances have been received till 28/01/2026 on the portal, out of which 23,924 grievances have been resolved. Out of these nine complaints are related to collateral or third-party guarantee demand under PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme, one each from the State of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and 3 from Karnataka. With respect to these 9 loan applications, 4 have been sanctioned and disbursed. A total of 952 Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs) have been included under the PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme. It is applicable for all students, including students of Tier-Il and Tier- III cities, who get merit based admission in these QHEIs and are desirous of availing PM – Vidyalaxmi education loan for their higher education in these QHEIs. *****Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF PART(A) TO (E) OF THE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 505 FOR 04-02-2026 ASKED BY SMT. RANJEET RANJAN AND SMT. PHULO DEVI NETAM, HON’BLE MPs REGARDING “LOANS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION” Bank-wise data from 25.2.2025 to 28.01.2026 Application s Closed/Wit Applica Applicati Sanctione Sr hdrawn/Pe Rejected tions ons Being d N Bank Name nding at Applicati Receive Processed Applicati o Student for ons d at Bank ons Relevant Informatio n Abhyudaya Co-Operative 1 1 0 1 0 0 Bank Ltd. Andhra Pradesh Grameena 2 142 33 62 44 3 Bank 3 Axis Bank 352 66 282 1 3 4 Bank Of Baroda 6025 1427 480 3779 339 5 Bank Of India 2758 945 232 1515 66 6 Bank Of Maharashtra 1104 315 36 721 32 7 Bihar Gramin Bank 4 0 4 0 0 8 Canara Bank 13097 2381 444 9121 1151 9 Central Bank Of India 4149 989 277 2856 27 Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin 10 5 3 2 0 0 Bank 11 City Union Bank 59 27 20 9 3 12 Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd 8 2 2 4 0 13 Federal Bank 85 15 69 0 1 14 HDFC Bank 196 176 20 0 0 Himachal Pradesh Gramin 15 2 1 1 0 0 Bank 16 ICICI Bank 200 160 39 1 0 17 IDBI Bank 565 83 157 324 1 18 IDFC Bank Limited 19 8 11 0 0 19 Indian Bank 2588 1362 228 993 5 20 Indian Overseas Bank 1247 409 101 701 36 Jalgaon Janata Sahakari 21 2 0 0 2 0 Bank Ltd Jammu and Kashmir Bank 22 284 107 68 109 0 LimitedApplication s Closed/Wit Applica Applicati Sanctione Sr hdrawn/Pe Rejected tions ons Being d N Bank Name nding at Applicati Receive Processed Applicati o Student for ons d at Bank ons Relevant Informatio n 23 Karnataka Bank 142 26 88 22 6 24 Karnataka Grameena Bank 144 39 84 17 4 25 Karur Vysya Bank 64 35 13 7 9 26 Kerala Gramin Bank 56 8 6 38 4 27 Kotak Mahindra Bank 55 41 1 0 13 Madhya Pradesh Gramin 28 1 0 1 0 0 Bank 29 Maharashtra Gramin Bank 16 4 4 6 2 30 Odisha Grameen Bank 3 0 3 0 0 Puduvai Bharathiar Grama 31 1 0 0 0 1 Bank 32 Punjab And Sind Bank 166 36 44 76 10 33 Punjab Gramin Bank 20 6 0 14 0 34 Punjab National Bank 7881 2948 305 4118 510 35 Rajasthan Gramin Bank 14 3 3 8 0 36 RBL Bank 3 2 0 0 1 Sarva Haryana Gramin 37 12 0 10 2 0 Bank 38 South Indian Bank 65 18 30 15 2 39 State Bank of India 49310 11380 2652 29302 5976 40 Tamil Nadu Grama Bank 7 1 3 3 0 41 Tamilnad Mercantile Bank 21 2 11 4 4 42 Telangana Grameena Bank 21 3 4 9 5 43 The Nainital Bank Limited 2 0 2 0 0 The Saraswat Co-Operative 44 1 0 0 1 0 Bank Ltd 45 Tripura Gramin Bank 2 0 2 0 0 46 UCO Bank 901 143 91 615 52 47 Union Bank Of India 5114 1836 215 3018 45 48 Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank 15 4 8 2 1 49 Uttarakhand Gramin Bank 5 1 4 0 0 50 West Bengal Gramin Bank 1 0 1 0 0 51 Yes Bank Ltd 20 9 11 0 0 Total 96955 25054 6132 57457 8312State-wise data from 25.2.2025 to 28.01.2026 Applications Applicati Closed/With ons Sanction drawn/Pend Rejected Sr Applications Being ed Bank Name ing at Applicati No Received Processe Applicati Student for ons d at ons Relevant Bank Information Andaman and Nicobar 1 71 21 7 32 11 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 7577 1541 419 5010 607 3 Arunachal Pradesh 36 17 2 16 1 4 Assam 1495 441 114 784 156 5 Bihar 6193 1910 424 3377 482 6 Chandigarh 231 72 8 132 19 7 Chhattisgarh 820 160 35 558 67 8 Delhi 5057 1324 248 3138 347 9 Goa 198 44 8 129 17 10 Gujarat 1976 422 88 1320 146 11 Haryana 3885 1038 269 2250 328 12 Himachal Pradesh 797 173 48 513 63 13 Jammu and Kashmir 524 166 75 258 25 14 Jharkhand 3452 930 225 2053 244 15 Karnataka 5597 1558 486 3030 523 16 Kerala 4635 983 303 2899 450 17 Ladakh 5 1 0 4 0 18 Lakshadweep 2 1 1 0 0 19 Madhya Pradesh 3881 840 185 2552 304 20 Maharashtra 8349 2009 503 5170 667 21 Manipur 134 50 20 50 14 22 Meghalaya 125 21 13 81 10 23 Mizoram 47 23 1 15 8 24 Nagaland 58 15 3 29 11 25 Odisha 3350 676 199 2130 345 26 Puducherry 196 66 19 99 12 27 Punjab 1886 465 102 1185 134 28 Rajasthan 4443 1093 220 2745 385 29 Sikkim 21 7 0 12 2 30 Tamil Nadu 10128 3134 864 5168 962 31 Telangana 3583 957 176 2126 324 The Dadra and Nagar 32 Haveli and Daman And 40 8 3 26 3 DiuApplications Applicati Closed/With ons Sanction drawn/Pend Rejected Sr Applications Being ed Bank Name ing at Applicati No Received Processe Applicati Student for ons d at ons Relevant Bank Information 33 Tripura 175 37 25 102 11 34 Uttar Pradesh 13182 3686 787 7462 1247 35 Uttarakhand 1532 331 70 1017 114 36 West Bengal 3274 834 182 1985 273 Total 96955 25054 6132 57457 8312